Valenciennes lace



Dec. 2, 1930.

A. L. SEIWERTS VALENCIENNES LACE '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 21. 1929 1221/4911 in)": 72S Saber-ts Dec. 2, 1930. s 1,783,858

VALENCIENNES LACE Filed Sept. 21, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.9

l dl? S L!- Seiluerls Ingen for;

Patented Dec. 2, 1930 UNITEDI TA TE PAT ALrons r..- smwsm,

= QvAnENcIENNEs LACE Application September s 1929, s mi No." 394,262, and in Germany April 12, 1 929.

.lWith the developmentqoffi the singlethread braiding machine it-has become possible to manufacture nearly all kinds of braided lace bymachinery and, therefore, in an economical Way.= Nev ertheless there remains just onekind of lace Whichis comparatively expensive even when produced on braiding I machines, namely, fthe. so-called Valenciennes lace. Thisis a lace comprising the finest ofzthreads, the ground work of V which consists of f rhombic or polygonal meshes and is interwoven with oneor more ribbon-like strips in close weave. These strips necessitate many arrests on the braiding machine and since, moreover, they extend over the whole length of the lace, the

manufacture of such laceon the braiding machine is extraordinarily tedious and expensive. V

' A further circumstance which influences adversely the. sale of this machine braided Valenciennes lace is the fact that, in France especially, an imitation of-the Valenciennes braided Valenciennes lace. 30

lace is manufactured on the net machine; this indeed, is-not sofelaborate as the machine braided alenciennes lace. but it is correspondingly cheaper 'and 'therefore makes great inroads into the sales of the -'Efl'orts have, therefore, been made for a long time past toproduce machine braided Valenciennes lace .more' economically- In this connection the recent introduction of the high speed small pitch machine resulted in a certain amount of progress but this, in the case of the machine braided Valenciennes lace, Wasstill insuificienttoenter into competition withthelaceproduced on the net machine.

8 It is the object of the present invention to cal than heretofore; According tothe inmachine amples of'lace textures according'to thelllventlon are narrow bands-as the pattern.

n 'beingarranged between the pattern strips. ventionthis aim'is achieved by working the lace with stationary longitudinal"ithreads, (hereinafterftermed warp threads) this being done "by makingthe warpjthreads replace, in themeshed groundwork of the lace,

the obliquely disposed bobbin threads of the forming type of groundwork.

T j f or BARM Iq-LAN ERFELD, GERMAN nssrenonjiro THE FIRM "'A'. nonnnnnn; ornamvrnn, GERMANY partialfbraids, while inthepattern they are interwoven as stem threadsbetween thebobbin threads which plait.- V i e By thisgspecial method of working the manufacture of the lace is rendered materially cheaper. This, on the one hand is brought about by working the lace, not with the expensive closely woven patterned strips but are arranged in a simple solely with a simple braided weave, that; is,

threads have also been used in filet lace. but

exclusively as stem threads. 'According to the present invention on the contrary, the -warp threads:functioh, as may be required, sometimesas stem threads in the pattern and sometimes after the fashion of obliquely twistedbobbin threads. p p

In the p yi g drawings several ex- I illustrated. Ina-these drawings:1% f ,x Fig. lshows a Valenciennes lace produced by -;the process of the invention with a rhombic groundwork and a' simple strip of Fig. 2 shows on "an enlargedscale tlie .YFig. 3shows the course'ofthethreads in i V forming the pattern strips.

overcome this difficulty and to render the manufacture ofValencienneslace on the sins Fig. 4 shows a lacedesign with rectangular cou-rseof the threads in forming the rhombic netof the groundwork;

groundwork meshes and two Wavy pattern strips crossin g each' other, decorative designs Figfi5 shows the course of the thread in polygon l or substantially round 1 groundwork meshes. 1

producing the hexagonal meshes ofa special r Fig; 6 showsthecourseof the threads Fig. 7 shows the course of the threads in forming a decorative groundwork known under the name of Fond-Chant.

Fig. 8 shows the course of the threads in forming the so-called snowflake decorative groundwork.

Fig. 9 shows a lace with a framed pattern.

Fig. 10 shows to a greatly enlarged scale, the course of the threads in the framework of the pattern according to Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 shows the course of the threads in a Fond-Chant with two warp threads for each three braided threads.

In the example of Fig. 1 a is the groundwork of the lace formed of rhombic meshes, through which runs a closely braided strip 2') forming the pattern, the course of which is made to match the scallops at the edge of the lace. While, in hand braided Valenciennes lace the individual cords of the rhombic meshes consist each of four braided threads (see Marie Schiittes Alte Spitzen, pages 68 and 220, published by Richard Carl $chmidt & (30., Berlin, IV. 62 1921), these individual cords, according to the present invention, are made up of a warp thread d and only two braided threads 0, v0 which are twisted around the warp thread and pass therewith along the slanting run of the cord.

At times at the crossing places of two individual cords, for instance, at the point 7, the braided threads of the two cords are mutually interchanged so that at such a point a true plait is produced. The warp threads, however, take no part in this plaiting but turn off into the opposite slanting run, since they continue on their plates and are here further intertwined by the newly interchanged pair of bobbins. While the braiding threads, therefore, proceed substantially in diagonal direction across almost the whole width of the lace, the warp threads pursue a zigzag course which, in the direction of the width of the lace, runs to and fro over only one half of the width of a mesh. This peculiar course of the warp threads is obtained in the present case by workingthem in at only the least possible tension so that they follow the direction of the bobbin threads which from time to time intertwine with them.

As will readily be seen, this method of working and formation of the cords by comparison with the usual structure embodying four thread cords, results in a substantial saving of material and, above all, in crossings and, therefore, a saving of time.

The same applies substantially to the formationof the pattern strip 6 which hitherto has been exclusively worked in. the 'so-called linen weave whereas, according to the invention, as may be seen from Fig.3 it is now so worked that the warp threads 03 run straight through and are bound in by the corresponding braiding threads 0 in an ordinary plaited weave.

This permits all the braiding threads to run across the whole width of the pattern strip without arrests whereas, in the linen wove strips hitherto employed extraordinarily frequent and prolonged arrests'of the bobbins have been necessary.

In order that the. ties in the formation of the pattern strip may be more clearly recognized, the'course of the threads in Fig. 3 is highly distorted in the longitudinal direction, so that the braided threads appear to lie in a very inclined direction, whereas, in reality they are beaten up in such close sequence at the braiding point by the crown pick that they lie almost at right anglesto the direction of length of the lace and close against one another, forming, in conjunction with the warp threads, a closed cover, as can be seen; from Fig. 1. In th1s connection the warp threads running through have an'advantageous effect inasmuch as they hold the remaining braiding threads apart, thus causing the strip to appear more. regular and broader.

The further example according to Fig. 4 shows that the new lace is adapted to be made not only with a groundwork of rhombic meshes but also with substantially round meshes for instance, with approximately hexagonal meshes in the so-called laceor net-ground a. The method of working this lace ground with warp threads can. be seen fromFig. 5. .As appears on'comparing this illustration with Fig. 2 the crossings in the two cases are-substantially the same. Since, however, in the second example, a somewhat higher tension is selected for the warp threads, the inter-braided threads at the bins at the crossing place may, as shown in I Fig. 6 be efi'ectedseveral times. In this Way the horizontal lines of the meshes ap pear to be strengthened. Thereis then .obtained the illustrated type of ground which is also frequently employed in Valenciennes lace, and which resembles the ground of Fig.

if the sheet of drawings be rotated through In the example shown inFig. 4 two close- 1y braided strips 6, b are used which are i also worked, inthe manner shown in Fig. 3,

with warp threads but are entwined with one another in wave form. At the same time the parts 9', h of the lace ground enclosed between them are'filled up with a so-called example, howeven this kind of decorative groundwork-can be formed when using warp threads. g V I V The invention is of course, not restricted to the examples hereinbefore specified, on the contrary, there aremany other waysof 1 carrying it intopractice. In particular the filling-up of the pattern might be done with; other kinds of decorative grounds and the patterns might, as in the 'so-called Brussels lace be enclosed or bordered by fancy threads. p

7 An eXampleof lace framed round in this manner is illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10. In

such a lace, however, by reason of the employment of warp threads special difficulties arise at the places where the fancy threads run, for a long stretch, parallel to the longitudinal edges of the lace as, for instance, at the place 70, since with the continuous twisting of the fancy thread around the warp thread a forcing up of the ties at the braiding point of the machine would no longer be possible. Accordingto the invention these difliculties are overcome by. conducting the fancy' thread at given intervals to right or left to an adjacent plate, that is,

V to a switch plate which carries no warp thread. In Fig. 10 the course of the thread or bobbin with this method of crossing is illustrated. Here 10 is the fancy thread used to frame round the design and gm the warp thread about which the fancy thread has to be twisted over a long stretch. According to the invention, the fancy thread is carried at the points 9, 9 onto the temporarily adjacent switch plate, without the warp thread, l

' preferably inside the closely braided pattern while, at the same time,' the vbobbin thread tin the pattern is'reversed one plate width ahead in order to avoidcollision with the bobbin ofthe fancy thread. Owing to the fineness of the .pattern this irregularity loan scarcely be seen in the finished'lacewith the naked eye; on the contrary, the fancy thread or frame border of the pattern appearsto run through completely-in straight lines. .Only by most careful inspection is a small hole in the lace to be observed at the points 1", r and this does not spoil its appearance.

Furthermore, it is not necessary that, as

r in the example shown, one warp thread be used forfevery two braiding threads, for in certain instances a greater or less number of threads between the bobbin threads threads might be used throughout or at individual points in the lace, for instance,'two warp threads to every three braiding threads. The last-named wayof using warp threads affords, inter alia, especially advantageous facilities for forming, a ground having the appearance of the known F ond-Chant and shown, to an enlarged scale in Fig. 11. Here the two groups of threads running longitudinally, parallel to the edge of the lace are formed of only one braiding thread 8 andone warp thread m, while the obliquely running braids are formed as in the foregoing examples, each of-two braiding threads 0, 0', and one warp thread 03.

1 Finally, the expressionValenciennes lace is to be interpreted not in a narrow but in a broad sense, so as to include thereunder the known variant forms also. p I cla1m:

in which'the warp threads are drawnthrough such decorative designs. 1 V V 3; Lace of the character set forth in claim 1 characterizedv by the feature that the'pat tern is framed by an ornamental thread 7 which at those points parallel with the edge of the lace is carried without the warp thread into the braided pattern, while the bobbin thread in the pattern is reversed a plate width ahead of the ornamental thread. 7

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature; 7

ALFON S L. SEIWERTSP as v 

